Greg does it again
Just as he did in Antibes in 2002 at the last major PSA event in
France, Gregory Gaultier tonight proudly lifted the Guy Laroche
trophy, this time in front of an ecstatic full house at Stade
Charlety.

In truth it looked like one match too far for Borja Golan, who
had beaten the second and third seeds, both in five games, to
reach the final.

The first two games were shared, but Gaultier was dominant in
the second part of the final two games, but it still took him
over an hour to subdue the plucky Golan, who has just had the
best week of his career - his Paderborn team even won the
European Club Championships in his enforced absence!

GRINDING BORJA…Framboise reports

If the match was not as intense and breathtaking as some of the
matches we’ve seen this week, it was still a very good
performance from both players, who really gave every inch of
energy and determination they had left to win each and every
point.

Greg just wore the Spaniard down, in particular in the first
game, by making the rallies as long as possible. And even if
Borja’s great pride and spirit allowed him to clinch the second
game, Greg collected the reward of his efforts in the third and
fourth, as Borja was less and less able to have an impact on the
match, and was reduced to returning and defending…

The fourth game was still very much in the air actually, until
5/5, but a succession of decisions took a lot of mental energy
from Borja, and Greg, maybe that much fresher, that much
hungrier, was able to score the next six points, to finally,
very calmly, shake the hand of his opponent. He was so tired the
Frenchman, that he never got excited, jumping up and down…

Still, he got out of court, went straight to his camp, then to
Thierry, who was side court, commentating the final “live” on
Sport+, spoke briefly to the TV spectators, and replied to
journalists before going and receive his trophy from a quite
logically rather contented French President Jacques Fontaine…

Like he stated after his match, “this was a long day, but it’s
nice to win at home”. You bet…

"I
didn’t expect to play Borja, I prepared myself for Thierry or
James, so I had to stay vigilant at all times, and never to
relax, as he was seizing all the opportunities…

"I was dead from my match with Nick yesterday, the efforts I had
to produced to beat him emptied me of most of my resources, and
I just couldn’t put any pace on the ball. Flat I was…

"Borja was tired as well, but we both gave it everything we had.
Wasn’t my best ever squash, by far, but I did what I could with
what I had left. It was more a mental battle than a physical
one…

"I’m so happy that the Federation had put so many efforts into
this event, and I hope that we’ll play again here next year, and
I hope that we’ll have more of the top 10. This year, we were
lucky enough to have 4 out of 10, but it would be nice to have
all the best players next time…

"I’m
so happy that so many people came here, and supported me during
my matches, it was a great motivator, and felicitations to
Borja, who made an extraordinary journey here…

"On
court, my legs felt the same as they did yesterday, the same as
they did the day before, there was nothing wrong with my legs.
Before my warm up today, yes, they were aching like hell, and
now, right now, they are very painful too, but on the court,
they were fine…

"You know, sometimes, you play squash with your head, and
sometimes with your heart. I think that today, I played too much
with my heart, and not enough with my head! And Greg played just
too well today, he played at a different level, I tried my best,
but he was faster than I was, he was more accurate, and that
made the difference…

"For the past weeks of training, I’ve decided to use my speed
not only to counterattack, but to attack too. That maybe made a
difference this week. But also, they always say that you get
better match after match, but as I was losing in the first round
every tournament, I really never had a chance to find out!!!!!
And even this week, I could have lost 11/9 to Kempy in five,
instead of winning , and my week would have been over…

"I just want to thank all the people back in Spain, my
supporters who have been believing in me for years now, and also
my friends who came here this week, including of course the team
from Ornano in Bordeaux…

"This week has been just incredible, even in my dreams I didn’t
imagine such a tournament for me. I guess it must the reward for
years of hard training, but beating Thierry and James, two idols
of mine, is just a dream… And the atmosphere here, it was just
incredible for a squash player, I’m so happy, so proud to be
here…"